A new agreement promises to restore Pointe-Claire’s iconic windmill after decades of inaction, but that didn’t stop council from erupting into an argument about the process on Tuesday.
Late last month, the Archdiocese of Montreal announced the Société pour la Sauvegarde du Patrimoine de Pointe-Claire (SSPPC) had signed a 50-year lease agreement for the windmill with the Archdiocese, which owns the windmill and surrounding land. As part of this agreement, the SSPPC will repair and restore the windmill, with the first phase of work beginning sometime this year, according to a press release from the Archdiocese.
The restoration will be funded by private donors, most of whose names have not been released, with the exception of former Giant, Inc. President Claude Lesage.
As for the city’s role, spokesperson Chloé Paiement said it’s up to the building’s owner to restore and maintain it, and up to the provincial government to make sure that happens. “The city's responsibility remains unchanged following the agreement,” she wrote.
The windmill, which was built in 1709 and has since become a symbol of Pointe-Claire, has long been in disrepair, and discussions about repairing it have been ongoing for decades, without progress.
Despite the long-awaited progress on the project, Mayor Tim Thomas struck a mixed tone at the monthly council meeting on Tuesday.
“I only wish the city could help fund this project,” he said. “Unfortunately, council rejected the subsidy agreement that I negotiated with the archdiocese to do this in 2022.”
He then told a resident during question period that the restoration should not be left up to “rich private donors.”
“To plan for how they’re gonna renovate it and what kind of windmill we’re going to get, they can only do that if they have the money upfront.”
Following these comments, tensions boiled over between Thomas and Councillor Eric Stork. Stork accused Thomas of misrepresenting a tentative agreement between the city and the archdiocese that was presented to council in September 2022 but never signed.
“Once again, you’re blatantly misrepresenting the truth,” Stork said. “You’re blatantly lying.”
Thomas and Stork’s disagreement came down to two main issues: that of public access, and the nature of the payment agreement between the archdiocese and the SSPPC. Thomas argued that the 2022 deal, which he helped negotiate and supported, promised better rights of access for visitors.
He later said the issue of public access was “a snare and a delusion: It’s a small little place where you don’t want people going in, especially with a working mechanism. So it’s a mythology; it’s a way of distracting.”
The Record asked Mayor Thomas, via Paiement, for his response to Stork’s accusations, but did not receive a response by publication time.
Thomas and Stork then sparred over payment for the project. Thomas argued more money should be provided by the city upfront than the roughly $967,000 that was approved in a January 2024 by-law. But Stork said the archdiocese would be paid for the work regardless, per the by-law.
“We don’t have the option of not giving them money,” he said.
As for the funds set aside in the 2024 by-law, Paiement said that the funding stream “is available to any organization that meets the criteria of the program offered by the City of Pointe-Claire.”
The SSPPC did not respond to a request for comment.